“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” – Isaiah 9:2

The journey of advent doesn’t begin with the coming of the light, but with the people walking in darkness. To fully appreciate the light of the coming Christ we must first acknowledge the reality of the darkness of our world.

It’s a bit strange to write about my top posts of 2013, since this website sat silent for most of the year. In fact, I only wrote a handful of new posts in 2013. Perhaps they should all be my top posts of the year. Still, I’m curious how the site performed this year, even with leaving it mostly abandoned.

2013 showed sizable traffic increase on the site. There was an 80% increase in visits and an 86% increase in unique visitors. Why did my traffic increase so dramatically in 2013, even with few new posts?

First, I was seriously looking for a new job in early 2013. I interviewed with many churches and ministry leaders. I assume that a significant number of them spent time on my website. I know I would if I was the one investigating pastoral candidates.

Second, I performed a major upgrade of the site in April, moving from a free-but-no-longer-adequate website to a self-hosted WordPress site. Here’s the verdict: WordPress is awesome! Not only does the site look magnitudes better, but I have more tools at my disposal as I write and post. I’m also convinced that the move to WordPress is a big part of the increase in web traffic. If you are not using WordPress for your site, it is time to check it out.

I also see that some posts from pasts years picked up new readers. This shows me reader interests and what I need to write about often.

Finally, here are the top performing posts on EmbraceTheGodLife.com in 2013.

10. Sermon Media
The page of my featured sermons comes in at #10 for 2013. I assume this is due to pastoral search committees checking out my preaching while I was searching for a new ministry assignment in early 2013.

9. The Inaugural Free Book Friday
I started a new series of posts where I highlight a great free book each Friday. I only ran 2 posts in this series before my blog went silent, but the first post comes in at #9 for 2013. I’m excited to resume Free Book Friday in 2014.

8. The ELMM Diet
At #8, this is the oldest post in my top 10. This post from 2008 is a lighthearted attempt to create a new diet plan: the ELMM.
Enough people are looking for sensible health tips that they keep this post in my annual top 10.

6. About
I spent the first part of 2013 seriously searching for a new ministry assignment, and interviewed with many churches. Enough new readers and potential employers were looking for info about me to make my About page the number #6 most viewed page of 2013.

3. Leading Lectio Divina
This post goes back to 2009 and has remained a top post ever since. I attribute this to the number of evangelical Christians drawn to the traditional spiritual disciplines, but need a few pointers on how to practice the disciplines.

Is hindsight is 20/20? I’ve discovered that some decisions actually become less clear over time. Many decisions that seemed clear at the time become more muddled as time passes. Remember: you made the best decision you could with what you knew then. Perhaps you would make a different decision now. That’s OK. You are not who you were then.

Worship is the space in which we learn to take the right things for granted precisely so we can bear witness to the world that is to come and, in the power of the Spirit’s transformation, labor to make and remake God’s world in accord with his desires for creation.